WHEW !

Day 1 of the 3 day weekend is 1/2 over and I'm WHOOPED !
I've been slaving in the yard and still have a LOT to do.
If nothing else, I'm happy with things so far.
Our front walk was a DISASTER and it's now got flowers in it and TONS of top soil !
(pictures to follow later)
Then I took to digging out the ugly white rocks along the rock wall in our yard. There's a nice little strip of land between the driveway and our rock wall that is beginning it's transformation.
(again, pictures will follow later)
Not to mention the rampage I went on out back with the clippers. Let's just say that there are a few less trees and a LOT less branches inhibiting the beauty of our backyard.
The only thing that's driven me inside is the godforsaken rain. But even that I will be positive on. My new plants will get the water they require and my back/knees/hands COULD use then break. I sort of don't know when to stop when it comes to my gardening so this is a good thing.
Now that I've gotten a little break in, I must get back to work !
We've got a party to go to tomorrow and I must get to baking for a COUNTY (literally) so I've got my work cut out for me !
:)
And the best thing on the planet is that after tomorrow I still have a WHOLE DAY to work in my yard/garden !
WHOO !
Hope y'all are having a great long weekend too !
:)

Mini Break

Well, I think I may have convinced the little senior that we should go away for a long weekend.
I've chosen Washington, DC.
I've never been there before and am honestly notsogood when it comes to which monument is which and all that history stuff.
J LOVES history and all that.
AND...
This would be an easily affordable trip !
We can drive there and arrive in approx. 4 hours.
All of the attractions are free.
The only things we would have to pay for would be the hotel (which seem to run about $100/night) and food.
So.
Now I'm hunting for the "perfect hotel" and we need to get ourselves booked soon seeing as how this is only about 1 month away.
We'll see...
Hopefully this trip happens....

Dreary Monday Morning

WOW !
I am feeling SO lazy this morning !
Saturday I was 110% energy. I was out in the yard, chopping down tree limbs and yanking up weeds then I was a cyclone of cleaning in the house.
Yesterday I was a bit more low key opting to tinker around the house, make a nice dinner and try out some new cookie recipes.
Then there's today.
Today I have like no energy. Perhaps it has to do with the gray sky and rainy weather?
This should be a short week of having my boss in the office. He's supposed to be out today and tomorrow. We'll see.
The we're onto a three day weekend ! WHOO !
A three day weekend that includes going to my friend's annual clambake. Which should be SUPER fun ! ! ! ! !
And, of course, this party happening means that I'll be doing MORE baking this week so I can bring something with me.
BIG WHOO !
AND !
Our favorite breakfast place is right up the street from her house !
Which means I betcha I can convince J that we need to go there before heading to the party !
SQUEEE ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Not Bad For A Girl Who's Been To England Once, When She Was 9, And It Was Only For A Long Weekend ! ! !

Jolly good, wot! Anyone for tennis? That'll be ten ponies, guv. You're the epitome of everything that is english. Yey :) Hoist that Union Jack!

How British are you?

this quiz was made by alanna

The Sheep Quiz !

Which flock do you follow?

this quiz was made by alanna

Sniffle, Sniffle, Sniffle.....

Now, I absolutely LOVE this story !
And every time it comes on t.v. -
no matter where it is in the movie (can only have 5 minutes left) -
I watch it.
Guess what was just on.
Caught the last 1/2 hour.
And now I'm a bawling mess....as is what always happens to me.
(Sort of like when I watch Fried Green Tomatoes).

I feel like such a dope for crying at a movie.
Particularly because I cry EVERY time I see it.
At least they're tears of joy, right?
Now where's my kleenex???

You never said "bless you" when I sneezed, so why am I shocked that you that you don't say "goodbye" when I leave?

Another one bites the dust !
I had lunch with two former co-workers yesterday and found out that a woman who I'd become friendly with has resigned from the company.
I couldn't be happier for her !
So I gave her a call yesterday to congratulate her and chat.
She said that there are a number of people who haven't even said ANYTHING to her about her leaving.
It sucks, but I understand it.
In a place where they can't be bothered to say "bless you" when someone sneezes.....
What would be so special that they'd say "goodbye"?

So here's to you Shelly !
On to bigger, better and less disfunctional things ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

What I've Been Up To:

So, I've been bustin' my butt in the garden over the last few weeks....
My body is shot, but I think I may be making some headway.....
SO !

I thought I'd post a few pictures from the garden....

Here it is!
The FIRST bloom in all the garden ! ! !
SQUEEE ! ! ! ! !


Both sides of the house originally looked like this:



Here's what it now looks like as you look up the left side of the house.
2 of 3 tiers are completed.



This is the middle tier which was the BIGGEST pain in the butt to do not only because it's twice the size of the other two tiers, but also because of how many huge roots that had to be pulled !



And here's looking at the tiers from the top down.




Then there's the beginnings of the vegetable garden !


There's a rock wall in the front of our house. See....



J started creating tiers on the left side that attach to that wall to be used for the vegetable garden. This is only the beginning. The top tier was completed so I started it up. The bottom tier will eventually make it to being and I'll have to take more pictures to post at that time !



Various shots of the top tier of the veggie garden....












Oh, and in case you're wondering....
This tier contains Tomatoes, Summer Squash, Zucchini, Grapes, Strawberries, Broccoli, Peas & Spearmint.
Just wait until the 2nd tier is ready for me to attack it ! I'll have to open a veggie stand by the end of this summer if all goes well !

Thursday Test !

Try it out but remember to THINK before you answer each question !
:)

Test

My New FAVORITE Commercial ! ! ! ! ! ! !

"It's no conicidence that the first letter in Martini is MMMMMMMM"

If you click here you'll see what the heck I'm talking about...

It's "Tony on the Tube - TV Spot 1".

For some reason, this commercial TOTALLY tickles me pink ! ! ! ! !
Oh how I love Tony Sinclair ! ! ! ! ! !

I saw this again this morning and just HAD to share !
:)

I know I'm a bit slow on the uptake, but....

I think I just realized something.
The girl who I was talking about in an earlier post - the one who I believe got pregnant on purpose.....well, I think it was more than just trapping him.
She's ALWAYS been VERY VERY critical of my relationship with J. She and I used to be very close and I'd talk to her if he and I were having issues - her answer was always "LEAVE HIM !"
She was the one who always told me that he'd never take the step of us buying a house. And lookie lookie - 6 months ago we closed on this house of ours. She also said he'd never marry me. Now, that's yet to happen - but that's a VERY complex issue for the both of us....one we're trying to work through.
ANYWAY !
Here's the realization I just had like last night !
I think she thinks we're in competition here. She's been through more men who say "I want to marry you" who take off after 3-4 months. Meanwhile, J and I have been together for 3 + years straight. He's bought the house we've talked about. Meanwhile every guy who's talked about going further with her haven't done it.
On another level, I think she decided she's now found a man who wouldn't leave her if she did get knocked up. They've been talking about getting a house for some time now (a few months) as well as getting married - but nothing's come of any of that talk. I think maybe she didn't want to me made a fool of again.
Why am I analyzing this????
Probably because I can't understand why the heck an intelligent woman with a great job and a good life would do such a thing.
It also bothers me that #1 - she'd think of our relationship as competition and #2 - that she'd be this underhanded in her desperate "need" for a man.
Sigh.
This has just driven me nuts ever since she told me.
Particularly because one day it was like "I'm pregnant and we're both freaked out" and the next day it was "We're both just SO exicted, can't wait to be parents and are getting married in the next month or two !"
(shakes head)
I just don't know.

I Know It's A Bit Early....BUT.....

Anyone wanting to participate can go to:
http://www.nationalferalcatday.org/
and check it out !
:)

Outrage, Frustration, Despair....Take Your Pick !

I really just don't know what to do at this point !

I woke up this morning to find this:

This destruction happened to a good majority of my plants. These are the bulbs that the fuzzy bastards dug up before. I figured that now that they've developed into actual plants and they were on baker's racks they should be safe. Apparently not. This is only part of the destruction - for there are 3 bakers racks out on my deck and ALL of them were hit.

Then there's this:




These were my pea plants that I grew from seed and planted out there last weekend. Now THEY'RE all destroyed. I'm not even going to bother trying to re-plant them before I leave for work. The bulbs I did the best I could to recover what I could but the peas can rot at this point.

FUCK GARDENING ! ! ! !
FUCK THE FUCKING WOODS ! ! ! ! ! !
FUCK THIS MOTHER FUCKING YARD ! ! ! !
AND FUCK YOU YOU FUCKING FUZZY PLANT EATING, BULB DESTROYING BASTARDS ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! FUCK YOU THE MOST ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

I think now I'm going to go have myself a good cry.

Rocky Day

So.
I got an e-mail this morning.
An e-mail from a friend I've grown apart from in recent months.
She's, apparently, pregnant.
Again.
The last time this happened she had an abortion.
For all the wrong reasons.
I'm a person who believes that abortion is an individual choice and, though I disagreed with her reasons, I supported her through it.
And now she's pregnant again.
By another man.
One she's only been with for 4-5 months.
She's having this baby.
The situation is "different" so she says.
Yeah.
He's not 10 years younger than her and running away.
I hate to think this way, but I honestly think maybe she did this on purpose to make him marry her. She claims to be on birth control - funny how she seems immune to it, huh? It certainly didn't fail her in college....
She's desperate to be married - and at 36 I guess I can't blame her.
But this isn't the way to do it.
Really it isn't.
I'm assuming I'll have to be flying out to attend a quicky wedding in the semi-near future.
And it's a hike - so this won't be a cheap deal.
I don't wish her any ill will - I just wish she hadn't chosen this path.
Supposedly this guy was talking marriage anyway - maybe he wasn't talking about doing it fast enough?
I just hope everything works out for the best. All too often this situation leads to divorce and a kid who gets shuffled between parents.

AAH SPRING ! ! ! !

I don't know why the hell this facinates me so, but it totally does !
I noticed this fern plant outside and had to take a picture of the leaves unfurling.
It's official !
Spring is here !
SQUEEE !

HURUMPH

Why am I annoyed???
I shouldn't be, right?
Maybe because I felt J and I were wronged from the get go, hence our distancing ourselves.
I know part of my annoyance is pride.

You know what it is?
The fact that these "friends" made a HUGE deal about us creating distance and they were all like "we have to get together for dinner soon. Blah blah blah." and then two weeks later they invite a couple that we're also friends with but not us. And we've not heard from them at all.
Not that J and I want to hang out with them....it's just the falseness of them. Their total bullshit.
We've created distance for a reason. They obviously agree that we were in the right to do that as they have no interest in salvaging a friendship with us. So why the fuck do they pretend that they even want to be o.k. with us?
I simply hate bullshit.
So I suppose my annoyance is a mix of hurt pride and disdain for bullshit.
Whatever.
Fuck them.
We'll be having a summer get together and they will NOT be invited. Then they can again hear about a party of ours that they've not been invited to. Then it'll be their turn to be annoyed.

(wow, I'm feeling pretty bitchy today, huh?)

Fingers Crossed

There may be something good, no make that great, on the horizon.
It'll be something potentially hard to deal with if it happens, but overall it would be a really good thing.
It's been a very long road and I just hope everything works out as it's supposed to.
I'm not going to divulge any details at this point for fear of jinxing it....
But my fingers are officially crossed and we'll hopefully hear something in the next week or so.

Before & After...

So, this is what I did this evening....
Worked in the garden of doom ! ! ! !
I figured wood chips would look a LOT better than old dirt.
And LOOK !
It's like night & day ! ! ! ! !
Not only does it make everything look better, but it's also phase 1 in my battle against the fuzzy bastards who are STILL digging up the bulbs - now the ones that are develped into small plants ! ! ! ! ! (see the little spriggs popping up??? Those are my new plants !)
GGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRR ! ! ! ! !
I shall win this war ! ! ! !
I didn't quite buy enough mulch - I still need a little more. The bag covered all but one of the corners...so back to the store with me ! ! ! !
SQUEEE !
Pretty garden for MEEEE ! ! ! !